The NFL tried to make an example out of a team - again - and issued ridiculous punishment based on nothing - again. Surprise, surprise. We didn't think it would ever happen to us, not after New England, but here we are.
The Chiefs are charged with speaking directly with WR Jeremy Maclin during and before the legal tampering period which is not allowed. The Chiefs were docked multiple draft picks and the Chiefs, Andy Reid and John Dorsey were fined. Since the charges came down, we have been pointing out the rampant tampering that goes on around the league.
Peter King of SI.com has the latest example of a team doing the exact same thing as the Chiefs:
"I spoke with an agent the other day who told me without names that two of his free-agent clients this year had contact before free-agency began with coaches (one a head coach, one an assistant coach) on teams desiring to sign them when the free market opened."
Unbelievable. If Peter King can contact one agent who has not one but two clients doing the exact same thing, how many players around the league are doing the same thing? This is why NFL reporters were shaking their heads after this punishment came out -- they know these agents, they know how this all works. The legal tampering period isn't even when this starts - it starts a month earlier at the Combine! (If anything, the NFL needs more good guys like Andy Reid that maintain positive relationships throughout his career)
The Chiefs best argument here - besides repeated evidence of players and teams doing the same thing every year - is that tampering has been so rampant around the league that the NFL had to create a legal tampering period. It's their own admission that so many teams were tampering they had to do something about it. That's the one that I can't get over.
Remember, no one is denying the Chiefs are guilty. At least the Chiefs aren't. They're pushing back on the ridiculous punishment that is so out of whack with anything else.